Hoots from the Archive - A Brief History of Prizes

The school has awarded prizes in recognition of boys’ academic achievements for at least 200 years. Evidence of a celebratory speech day associated with the school can be traced back further still; the archive holds a book of verses recited on a speech day dating from 1640. Nevertheless, the first example we have of a specific prize is the Lawson medal that was instituted in 1807, on Lawson’s death. A group of Old Mancunians gave money to create the marble memorial to Lawson that still stands in Manchester Cathedral. The surplus money was used to create a gold prize medal which was awarded for the top mark in Classics examinations. The medal is no longer awarded, but the year 12 prize for Latin still bears Lawson’s name. 

Lawson’s medal remained the only prize awarded in honour of a named person until the 1860s. Prizes were funded internally by the school and simply named for a subject. Until this point, benefactors seem to have focused their generosity on endowing scholarships at Oxbridge for Old Boys, rather than prizes for pupils still at school. The Thompson History Prize was founded in this decade in honour of Richard Thompson, a former Second Master. Like the Lawson medal, this prize was founded in honour of an individual, rather than bequeathed by them.  

This began to change in the 1870s when a number of new prizes were set up through individual endowments or bequests stated in wills. Examples include the Bishop Lee Prize Fund, established in 1874 in memory of the Bishop, in Greek Testament and the Perkesian Prize of 1879 which was endowed by the will of the Rev. R.J. Perkes. The latter is still awarded for performance in Latin in year 13, although the original value of £4 has risen with inflation. Another prize a long pedigree still in existence is the Caine prize for Greek , which was founded by the will of Rev. William Caine in 1889. Another prize with longevity is the Procter prize, founded in 1890 for German and French composition by Daniel Procter. Of a similar vintage, the Pritchard prize for Art is still awarded and was founded in memory of the Head of the Art School in 1886. 

The ceremony to award such prizes has also changed over the years. As stated earlier, speech day seems to have roots in the very early history of the school. It seems to have fallen in and out of favour, with a hiatus in the mid-19th century, and a subsequent revival. High master Mason abandoned Speech Day in favour of a prizegiving held in school. Despite a brief revival of Speech Day under High Master Ray in 2011 – 2013, this is now the school’s preferred method for conferring honours on pupils.  

Pupils from the nineteenth century would recognise some of our modern day prizes. The most notable difference between then and now, however, is the absence of subject specific scholarships awarded to pupils still in school (in contrast to scholarships for study at University). There were a proliferation of such scholarships during the mid to late nineteenth century, appearing when fees were first introduced. Perhaps it was felt that the scholarships offered to boys, which gave fee remission, were not sufficient to fully support able boys to continue at the school. Expenses incurred by pupils such as books would not have been subsidised by the school, and the pressure to leave school early to support family would have been fierce for able boys from poorer backgrounds. Our modern bursary scheme has replaced the need for such scholarships. 

Many familiar names from the past jump out from our current list of prizes -  Frederick Walker (Essay Prize), J L Paton (Endeavour Prize) and Geoffrey Parker (Contribution to Music). But there have been some more recent additions too. There is a Politics prize awarded in memory of the late Rod Martin (Staff 1977 – 2009). There are two prizes named for Ian Bailey (OM 1927 – 32, Staff 1949 – 2007) – one for Sportsman of the Year and one for History Essays. There are also prizes named for generous Old Mancunians. For example, the Batterley Essay Prize for Environmental Science (OM 1931 – 1938), the Dudley Wilson Sixth Form Academic Excellence Prize (OM 1933 – 40) and the Noel Thompson Service Prize (OM 1946 – 51). Our latest addition, in 2020, was the Paul Ormerod Prize for Economics.